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Trout Unlimited Mid-Atlantic Council – 9th 2-Fly Online Auction
Auction Ends: Apr 23, 2015 05:00 PM EDT

Fly Fishing Equipment



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  • Fantastic Long Beach, CA PHW-Made Fly Rod and Exquisite Craftsman-Made Wooden Rod Case
  • Fantastic Long Beach, CA PHW-Made Fly Rod and Exquisite Craftsman-Made Wooden Rod Case
  • Fantastic Long Beach, CA PHW-Made Fly Rod and Exquisite Craftsman-Made Wooden Rod Case
  • Fantastic Long Beach, CA PHW-Made Fly Rod and Exquisite Craftsman-Made Wooden Rod Case
  • Fantastic Long Beach, CA PHW-Made Fly Rod and Exquisite Craftsman-Made Wooden Rod Case
  • Fantastic Long Beach, CA PHW-Made Fly Rod and Exquisite Craftsman-Made Wooden Rod Case

Fantastic Long Beach, CA PHW-Made Fly Rod and Exquisite Craftsman-Made Wooden Rod Case

Item Number
113
Estimated Value
Priceless
Opening Bid
1000 USD

Live Event Item

After the online close, this item went to a Live Event for further bidding. Absentee Bidding offered.

Item Description

Collaborative ROD from Long Beach, CA PHWFF

  • A 5 weight, 10 foot, 4 piece rod made from a Hook & Hackle Xi blank
  • Vietnam Veteran Don Lee, first-place winner of PHWFF national rod-building contest, did the 2-Fly logo over 40-50 hours.
  • The guides were wrapped by Iraq veteran Lisa Ornelas using the HJ Magic technique developed by the Long Beach program. This process takes about 5 hours.
  • Joe Richter, PHWFF volunteer advanced rod building instructor, installed a custom grip.
  • The patriotic rod sock is made by Long Beach PHWFF volunteer Virginia Powell.

Michael Baumgardner, of Trusted Craftsman, built the spectacular Wooden FLY ROD CASE for 4 piece rod

  • Case is made of Curly Maple
  • Caps are made of Black Walnut with engraved PHWFF logo

Just plain AMAZING Rod and Rod Case.  One-of-a-kind, and priceless.

Item Special Note

Retired Marine Cpl. and Vietnam veteran Don Lee started with the Long Beach PHWFF program in January 2011 at which time he built his first rod. Early in 2012, he began weaving a design on a rod and won first place in the national PHWFF rod-building contest with his second rod. Since then his mastery of rod weaving has become increasingly apparent. He's woven the PHWFF logo, Spiderman, Popeye, USC logo, and many others, and has made raffle/auction items as well as gifts for others. For this event, he has woven the 2-Fly logo, including the words "Project Healing Waters."

To weave, one essentially constructs a loom on top of the rod butt section. Threads must be uniformly and meticulously placed in slots of that loom on both the left and right sides of where the logo will emerge. According to a graph of the design plan, one then wraps the circumference of the rod, being very careful to apply equal pressure so as to not rotate the design on the rod. Thread tension and straightness is absolutely critical, as is absolute attention to the graphed plan. Because of the layers of horizontal threads, the image is not visible until it has been completed, so one cannot make adjustments or changes during the process, and the only correction is to start all over again.

Don's 2-Fly design uses 94 horizontal threads and five colors, wrapping very nearly all the way around the rod which is very difficult. Ever the perfectionist, he cut it off and re-started the logo six times before he was satisfied. For those of us who have had the privilege of watching this evolution, it's been like watching a flower bloom. He was always pleasant and helpful, but he has blossomed now that he has discovered something at which he is truly talented. He smiles whenever he's talking about rod building and is planning his next weave before he finishes the current one. This evolution is a powerful argument for not rotating veterans in and out of our program; there's no way of knowing when we'll make such a powerful connection.